Thread: Malayan Bonytongue

Malayan Bonytongue

Scleropages formosus

Description: Body; long, very strongly compressed, belly keeled, gape of mouth oblique and very large.
Distribution: Borneo, Sumatra, Thailand and Malaysia
Habitat: Streams, canals and swamps, preferring weedy and slow-moving water.
Food: Young feed on insects while adults eat fishes.
Skin/Color/Coat: Colour; back dark olive gold sheen, dark spot on each scale creating longitudinal rows of oblique lines, fins pale sea-green to sky-blue with brown to red-brown fin rays. Individual scales are very stout and bony with canals which form a mosaic-like pattern.
Reproduction and Development: Mouth brooders. Eggs which are large and few in number, taken into female's pouch-like throat immediately after extrusion and incubated there. Grow to 90 cm. Weight up to 7.2 kg.
Adaptations: Helical organ on fourth gill-arch which serves for filter - feeding (traps fine particles in mucous; they are carried back to stomach). Important for food during periods of low water.
Threats: Over-fishing has caused them to be classified as endangered
Status: Endangered

Thai Freshwater Fish